Market Trend Is Still Up

Look past those big round numbers—Dow 16,000—and the message from the market is simple: Stocks have momentum.

As the Dow Jones Industrial Average headed toward the 16,000 mark, investors got excited, as they do for any milestone. But other than giving journalists something to cover, round numbers usually do not have any greater technical significance than any other numbers.

The bottom line for the stock market is that the trend remains up, warts and all.

I looked back over the life of the entire bull market from the 2009 low to see...